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Sister of Bon Secours to Receive CHA Lifetime Achievement Award
Sr. Rita Thomas, C.B.S., recognized as leader in Catholic health care in Virginia
MARRIOTTSVILLE, Md.—(March 16, 2010) Sr. Rita Thomas, C.B.S., a Sister of Bon Secours, will receive the Catholic Health Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for strengthening the ministries of the Sisters of Bon Secours and Bon Secours Health System. The award recognizes Sr. Rita's leadership in health care, her commitment to human dignity, her defense of the poor and vulnerable, and her actions on behalf of the common good, justice and stewardship. Sr. Rita served as the Provincial for the Sisters of Bon Secours, as well as CEO and board president of several of Bon Secours Health System’s local systems and facilities.
"Sr. Rita has helped everyone from board members to housekeepers understand what it means to serve in a Catholic health care ministry and what that means to those we help," said Sr. Patricia A. Eck, C.B.S., Congregation Leader of the Sisters of Bon Secours. "She's ahead of her time, well respected, a great leader and deeply compassionate."
Beginning her health care career as a registered nurse, Sr. Rita held a number of staff and supervisory positions in both acute and long-term care settings. After earning a master’s degree from Catholic University, she helped plan the opening of St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond, Va., in 1966 and served as the first director of nursing services. When she assumed leadership of St. Mary’s Hospital in 1967, she became the first female CEO to lead a Richmond hospital.
Sr. Rita was elected Provincial of the United States province of the Sisters of Bon Secours in 1973. During her six-year tenure, she established the national position of health care coordinator. She united the Bon Secours facility CEOs to form the Bon Secours Health Care Commission, laying the foundation for the Bon Secours Health System. From 1994 to 1996, Sr. Rita served as chairperson of the Bon Secours Health System board.
In 1983, Sr. Rita helped bring Maryview Hospital in Hampton Roads, Va., into the Bon Secours Health System. Further, she guided community initiatives and helped the Maryview Hospital grow into a regional health care center. She served as president of the Bon Secours Hampton Roads board, balancing charity care with financial responsibility.
Sr. Rita's work extends beyond the borders of the United States. In 2006, she visited Peru to assist the Peruvian Sisters of Bon Secours with new programs they had started in their health clinic and the expansion of their surgical capabilities.
She has received awards including the Distinguished Leadership Award for Central and Tidewater Virginia presented by the American College of Healthcare Executives. Among her other honors, Sr. Rita was named an Outstanding Professional of Hampton Roads.
The Catholic Health Association of the United States (www.chausa.org), founded in 1915, supports the Catholic health ministry’s commitment to improve the health status of communities and create quality and compassionate health care that works for everyone. The Catholic health ministry is the nation’s largest group of not-for-profit health systems and facilities that, along with their sponsoring organizations, employ more than 750,000 women and men who deliver services combining advanced technology with the Catholic caring tradition.
Bon Secours Health System (www.bshsi.com), headquartered in Marriottsville, Maryland, a $2.9 billion not-for-profit Catholic health system, owns, manages, or joint ventures 18 acute-care hospitals, one psychiatric hospital, five nursing care facilities, five assisted living facilities, and 15 home care and hospice programs. Bon Secours’ more than 21,000 caregivers help people in communities in seven states, primarily on the East Coast.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Bon Secours (www.bonsecours.org), a religious congregation of Roman Catholic women founded in Paris in 1824, brings compassion, healing and liberation to those it serves, especially those who are sick, suffering, poor or dying. Whether in health care, education or social services, in hospitals, senior care facilities, clinics or parishes, in towns and cities or isolated villages, Bon Secours responds to a universal need: to provide to all who suffer a reason to live and a reason to hope.
